Body harness



April 11, 1961 R. F. ZAKELY 2,979,028

BODY HARNESS Filed March 5, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR. RUDOLPH E ZAKELY ATTORNEY April 11, 1961 R. F. ZAKELY 2,979,028

BODY HARNESS Filed March 5, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet z INVENTOR. RUDOLPH E ZAKELY ATTORNEY United States atent D BODY HARNESS Rudolph F. Zakely, Lyndhurst, Ohio, assignor to Kingely Rescue Harness Inc., Lyndhurst, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Mar. 5, 1959, Ser. No. 797,426

7 Claims. (Cl. 119-96) This invention relates to a harness for application to a human body being rescued from a hazardous position. When a person is injured at a hazardous location, such as at a high elevation or in a mine, tunnel or excavation, it is necessary to move the injured personto safety under somewhat precarious conditions. There are also situations where the injured body is so positioned that rescue workers are unable to work freely and the use of rescue equipment is limited. Quite often the person who is so injured is either unconscious or is physically impaired to the extent that he is unable to effectively cooperate with the rescue operation.

Various arrangements have been proposed heretofore for supporting such injured bodies while they are being moved from the hazardous location to safety. It has been common practice to use lengths of rope which are tied about the body with hand-tied knots in various manners to provide a rope harness for the body. Suchrope harnesses usually were ill-fitting and it often happened that the body would shift position in the harness while being moved, in many cases thereby aggravating the previous injury or causing additional injury to the body. It has also happened that the body would slip completely out of the rope harness while being moved. Furthermore, it required considerable skill on the part of the rescuer to apply such a rope harness properly to the body, and usually an excessively long time was required for the application of such harness.

Another previously proposed arrangement has involved the use of a stretcher type bag in which the injured body is strapped. Arrangements of this type required that the rescuer have considerable room in which to apply the bag to the injured body. Also, it required excessive movement of the injured body, which is undesirable under many conditions, particularly when the person has been seriously injured.

A still further arrangement for this purpose has involved the use of a parachute type harness for holding the injured body. Such harnesses are complicated in construction and difiicult to apply to the body, usually requiring the active cooperation of the person to whom the harness is being applied. As mentioned above, such.

cooperation is not available where the person is either unconscious or seriously injured.

The present invention is directed to a novel body harness which is free of the foregoing difiiculties and disadvantages and which is especially well suited for use 2,979,028 Patented Apr. 11, 1961 harness which can be applied to the body to support it in a variety of ways, either erect or prone, and in the latter case either face up or face down.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel body harness which is readily adjustable to snugly fit any size body and which, when applied, securely supports the body and restrains it against shifting position or falling out of the harness while being lifted.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel body harness which fits the body comfortably and has no tendency to injure the body or to aggravate any previous injury to the body.

Other objects and advantageous features of this invention will become more apparent from the following description of a presently-preferred embodiment thereof, illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein corresponding reference characters denote corresponding parts and wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the present harness with the parts of the harness extended prior to being applied to the injured body;

Figure 2 is a perspective plan view of the harness with its parts interconnected in the manner in which the harness would be applied to a human body;

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing a human body having the harness applied thereto, with the body being lifted erect in a rescue operation;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary elevational view taken along the line 44 in Figure 2, and showing the adjustable strap which interconnects the shoulder and leg portions of the present harness; and

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5--5 in Figure 2 and showing on an enlarged scale one of the hook fasteners employed in the present harness.

Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, the present harness embodies an upper ring 10 to which a pair of shoulder straps 11 and 11a are attached. Each of these shoulder straps is of suitable flexible material, such as cloth, leather or the like. Since the straps are identical in construction, only one will be described in detail.

As shown in the drawing the strap 11 at one end is formed with a loop 13 which loosely and slidably receives the ring 10. Beyond this loop the strap 11 is doubled over upon itself and terminates in an inner flap 14 which is stitched at 15 to the main portion of the strap. In this manner the strap is secured permanently at one end to the ring 10. At its opposite end the strap 11 presents a loop 16 which receives a conventional hook fastener 17. The strap is doubled back upon itself at this loop and presents a return length 18 which extends across the front of the main portion of the strap. A conventional slide buckle 19 engages the main portion of the strap and the return front segment 18, so that by adjusting the front segment 18 through the slide buckle the length of the strap between the ring 10 and the hook fastener 17 may be adjusted readily.

As shown in Figure 5 the hook fastener 17 comprises a rigid hook member 30 and a resilient flexible leaf 31 whichis attached at one end to the hook member 30 and which at its opposite free end normally engages inside the extremity of the hook proper. By depressing the leaf 31 downwardly in Figure 5, the hook fastener may be opened and the hook proper inserted onto the ring 10. Following this, the leaf 31 is released and it springs back to its normal position, thereby closing the hook fastener around the ring, as shown in Figure 5.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the slide buckle 19 comprises a rectangular open frame and a central cross piece 50 which together define a pair of openings on opposite sides ofthe cross piece. As best seen in Figure 2, both the. main portion 11 and the return front segment 18 of the strap extend contiguous to one another through these openings and across the central cross piece 50. Thus, the buckle acts frictionally against these parts of the strap to maintain the strap at the length for which it has been adjusted.

The other shoulder strap 11a is identical in construction, the corresponding elements on this strap being indicated by the same reference numerals, with the sufiix a added.

The harness has a lower ring 20 to which a pair of leg straps 11c and 11d are attached. Both of these straps are substantially identical to the previously described shoulder strap 11 and hence they will not be discussed in detail. The elements on the leg straps 11c and 11d which correspond to the described elements on the shoulder strap 11 are designated by the same reference numerals, with the sufi'ixes c and d added, respectively.

In accordance with the present invention, the upper and lower rings ltl and 29 are interconnected by means of an adjustable strap which is designated in its entirety by the reference numeral 21. As best seen in Figure 2, this strap has an inner top loop 22 which extends around the top ring and loosely and slidably receives the same. Below this top loop the strap has a back flap 23 which is stitched to a front, downwardly extending segment 2-4 of the strap. This front segment of the strap at its lower end is joined to a bottom loop 25 which. extends around the lower ring 20. A back segment 26 of the strap continues up from this bottom loop 25, this back segment not being stitched or otherwise secured to the front segment 24. At its upper end the back segment 26 of the strap is joined to an outer loop 27 which overlies the inner top loop 22 and extends up around the inside of the top ring 10. From this loop 27 the strap continues downwardly in the form of a front flap 28 which extends continuously across the front segment 24-. A slide buckle 29 receives the front segment 24 and the front flap 255 of this strap. *It will be apparent that, with this arrangement, the length of the strap 21 between the upper and lower rings 10 and may be adjusted readily, simply by sliding the front fiap 28 of this strap through the slide buckle 29.

In the use of this harness, before being applied to the body of the person who is to be lifted, the harness is in the condition shown in Figure 1. If the person is to be lifted erect, as shown in Figure 3, the top ring 10 is positioned at the chest and the shoulder strap 11 is extended from the front up across the left shoulder of the body and down diagonally across the back and underneath the right arm pit, with the fastener 17 being attached to the ring 10 more or less diametrically opposite the loop 13 on this strap. The other shoulder strap 11 is extended from the front across the right shoulder of the body and then down diagonally across the back and underneath the left arm pit, with its hook fastener 17a being attached to the ring 10 more or less directly opposite the loop 13a on this strap. The lower ring 26 is positioned over the groin of the body and the leg strap He is wrapped around the back of the left leg just below the buttock, continuing forwardly and upwardly across the left thigh and the hook fastener 170 is secured to the lower ring 20 next to the loop 130 on this leg strap. The other leg strap 17d is wrapped in the same manner around the right leg. The shoulder and leg straps are all adjusted so as to have a snug fit on the body. Also, the strap 21 which joins the upper and lower rings 20 is adjusted to a length which depends upon the length of the torso in such a manner that the body is retained securely in the harness and is not able to shift position substantially therein. A rope or cable 49 is secured to the upper end of the ring 1t} and by pulling upwardly on this rope the body harness and the body secured therein may be lifted as shown in Figure 3.

It will be apparent from Figure 3 that most of the weight of the body is supported by the leg straps 11c and 11d, and this exerts a substantially direct downwardly 4 pull on the lower ring 20. This downwardly pull in turn is taken up by the strap '21 and the top ring 10, all substantially directly in line with the rope 40. The pressure which the leg straps 11c and 11d exert against the body are substantially entirely at the back of the legs, which causes a minimum of discomfort. The shoulder straps 11 and 11a take up the rest of the weight and insure that the body will be maintained substantially erect, with no possibility of shifting position in the harness or, falling out of the harness.

It will be apparent that the body harness may be applied to the victims body quickly and with a minimum amount of movement of the body. The shoulder and leg straps can be wrapped around the victims body even though he may be unconscious or otherm'se incapable of cooperating when the harness is being applied. The only adjustments which need be made are those of the five slide buckles on the straps, and such adjustments can be made quite readily to suit the particular size and body shape of the victim, so as to provide a snug and comfortable fit of the body harness. Thus, it will be apparent that the illustrated embodiment of the present invention is completely free of the difiiculties and disadvantages attendant to the use of other, previously'proposed arrangements for supporting the victims body in a rescue operation. 7

In the event that the victims body is to be lifted in a prone position, face up, the body harness is applied to the victims body in the same manner as shown in Figure 3 and the lifting rope is attached to both rings 10 and 20.

When the victims body is to be lifted in a prone position, face down, the body harness is applied to the body backwards from the manner shown in Figure 3. That is, the rings 19 and 2t) and the strap 21 which connects them are all positioned overlying the victims back. The shoulder straps extend up across the victims back and down across the opposite shoulder and diagonally across the chest and under the opposite arm pit and back to the ring 10. The leg straps are looped around the re- Spective leg individually in the reverse directionfrom what is shown in Figure 3.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the present invention constitutes an improved and highly advantageous arrangement for supporting the body of a victim during a rescue operation. As described, the present body harness may be applied to the victims body in a number of different ways, in each case the apploation of the body harness being a quick and relatively simple operation.

It is to be understood that, while there has been described herein in detail and illustrated in the accompanying drawing a presently preferred embodiment of this invention, various modifications, omissions and refinements which depart from the illustrated embodiment may be adopted without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. A body harness comprising an upper attachment member, a lower attachment member, a connecting member which interconnects said'upper and lower attachment ing a portion connected to said lower attachment member and means spaced from said last-mentioned connected portion for releasable attachment to said lower attachment member.

2. The body harness of claim 1 wherein said connecting member has provision for adjusting its length between said upper and lower attachment members.

15 3. The body harness of claim 2 wherein each shoulder strap and each leg strap has provision for adjusting its length between its connected portion and its releasable attachment means.

4. A body harness comprising an upper ring, a pair of flexible shoulder straps, each of said shoulder straps at one end being connected to said upper ring and at its opposite end having means for releasable attachment to said upper ring, each shoulder strap having means for adjusting its length, a lower ring, a connecting strap which interconnects said rings and which has means for adjusting its length, said upper and lower rings and connecting strap between said rings being disposed in the same plane and a pair of flexible leg straps, each of said leg straps at one end being connected to said lower ring and at its opposite end having means for releasable attachment to said lower ring, each leg strap having means for adjusting its length.

5. The body harness of claim 4 wherein said releasable attachment means on each shoulder strap and leg strap is a hook fastener, and said length adjusting means on each strap is a slide buckle.

6. A body harness comprising an upper attachment member, a lower attachment member, a connecting mem ber which interconnects said upper and lower attachment members, said upper and lower attachment members and the interconnecting member therebetween being disposed in substantially the same plane, a flexible shoulder strap having a portion connected to said upper attachment member and means spaced from said connected portion for releasable attachment to said upper attachment member, and a pair of flexible leg straps, each having a portion connected to said lower attachment member and means spaced from said last-mentioned connected portion for releasable attachment to said lower att achment member.

7. A body harness comprising an upper ring, a flexible shoulder strap having one end connected to said upper ring and at its opposite end having means for releasable attachment to said upper ring, said shoulder strap having means for adjusting its length, a lower ring, a connecting strap which interconnects said rings and which has means for adjusting its length, said upper and lower rings and connecting strap between said rings being disposed in the same plane, a pair of flexible leg straps, each of said leg straps at one end being connected to said lower ring and at its opposite end having means for releasable attachment to said lower ring, each leg strap having means for adjusting its length. I

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,385,773 Boland July 26, 1921 1,642,911 Thurnau Sept. 20, 1927 2,699,284 Rose Jan. 11, 1955 

